ABSTRACT
A large proportion of the books imported in Spanish America throughout the nineteenth century were schoolbooks. In fact, during most of the century a majority of the primary and secondary school textbooks used in those countries were imported from Britain, France, Spain or the United States, or reprinted, adapted or rewritten upon the basis of the foreign ones.2 Moreover, during the second half of the century French and American publishing houses opened branches in many Spanish American countries and thus strengthened the very specialized and competitive business of school books.
